A Motor-Flight Through France

In Short

This travel memoir captures early twentieth-century France through the windshield of a motor-car. Wandering from the northern cathedrals of Amiens and Rouen down through the valleys of the Loire and Indre, into the rugged Auvergne, across the Pyrenees, and back up through Burgundy to Paris, the journey charts an intimate geography of regional life. It endures because it offers far more than a simple itinerary: it bridges the gap between historical sights, showing how centuries of art, architecture, and geography quietly inform the character of a nation.

The Story

The narrative follows an expansive automobile journey across France, beginning in the northern coastal plain and moving systematically through its historical provinces before returning to the environs of Paris. The voyage begins in the north at Boulogne, moving promptly to Amiens, where the magnificent Gothic cathedral introduces the central reflection of the trip: how a culture maintains its ties to the past through its stone monuments. From Amiens, the route traces the curves of the Seine toward Rouen and Les Andelys, where the dramatic ruins of King Richard’s Château Gaillard top tall gorse-shaggy cliffs overlooking the river’s silver flow.

Leaving the Seine, the itinerary turns south through the river valleys of the Loire and the Indre into the Berry region, passing through La Châtre and the pastoral countryside associated with George Sand. The journey presses further south into the mountain glens and high basalt plateaus of Auvergne. Negotiating narrow glens and unexpected delays like a congested village cattle-fair in Orcival, the travellers explore famous Romanesque churches tucked away in remote valleys. Passing through Bourges and the central plains, the route reaches Poitiers, a city defined by its fourth-century baptistery and dense layer of ancient monuments.

Continuing southward, the travel-party traverses the wine country between the Garonne and the Dordogne, visiting medieval planned towns, or bastides, like Cadillac and Aigues-Mortes. At the foot of the Pyrenees, the ascent to Saint Bertrand de Comminges reveals a towering Gothic cathedral crowning a tiny, ancient mountain settlement. Turning east toward Provence, the route highlights classic Roman remains—such as the triumphal arch and mausoleum at Saint Remy—surrounded by olive orchards and sharp limestone hills, before entering the university city of Aix-en-Provence.

Moving north along the Rhone, the journey enters the Grignan country, dominated by the ruined cliffside castle of the Comte de Grignan. Heading into Burgundy, visits to the over-decorated church of Brou near Bourg-en-Bresse and the isolated hilltop abbey of Vézelay demonstrate the dramatic shift from Romanesque stability to the soaring, delicate lines of emerging Gothic architecture. A flight through the north-eastern border regions brings the travelers to Rheims, where the central cathedral dominates the city, and Saint Quentin, home to a surprising portrait gallery of eighteenth-century pastels by Latour. The journey concludes along the valley of the Oise, passing through Pontoise and the shaded avenues of Saint Cloud to descend at last into Paris, completing a vast circuit that binds together the provincial faces, local rivers, and architectural monuments of France into a single continuous experience.

How It Unfolds

The northern approach The journey begins at Boulogne and moves inland to Amiens, where the soaring west front of the cathedral establishes a theme of reverence for inherited human experience. The motor-car then follows the bends of the Seine toward Rouen and Les Andelys, navigating quiet by-roads to find Château Gaillard set above the river.

Into the central heartland Leaving the Seine, the route cuts across the Loire and follows the Indre south into the Berry countryside near La Châtre. The travellers skirt manufacturing centers like Montluçon and pass through the quiet, off-season watering-place of Vichy before climbing into the mountainous gorges of the Auvergne to hunt for isolated Romanesque churches like Orcival.

Across southern provinces The journey turns west and south through Poitiers and the vineyard districts between the Garonne and Dordogne, exploring old bastide towns along the way. Climbing into the foothills of the Pyrenees, the travelers reach the dramatic perched cathedral of Saint Bertrand de Comminges before crossing into sunny Provence.

The northern circuit to Paris Turning back toward the northeast, the route follows the Rhone past the castle of Grignan, visits the ornate church of Brou, and ascends the hill of Vézelay. After inspecting the pastel portraits at Saint Quentin and the hill-town of Laon, the trip follows the Oise back into the shadowy parks of Saint Cloud and into Paris.

The People

The Modern Traveller Driven by a desire for historical continuity, the traveller seeks to escape rigid railway schedules and explore the unnamed regions between famous monuments. This figure wants to absorb the true connection between geography and human history, looking past modern industrialized grittiness to discover traditional provincial life.

The Provincial French Citizen Met in doorway threshold glimpses, market-places, and quiet lanes, the provincial inhabitant represents the refined, intelligent face of traditional France. Functioning as the quiet custodian of regional identity, this figure balances practical modern desires for local prosperity with a long habit of courtesy and thrift.

The Master Builders and Artists Though long dead, historical figures like Bishop Bertrand de l'Isle Jourdain, King Richard the Lion-Heart, and eighteenth-century portraitist Latour act as living presences throughout the landscape. Their ambitions, whether carved into the soaring vaults of cathedrals or captured in the smiling pastel faces at Saint Quentin, shape the visual character of the towns.

In Its Own Voice

"Yes--reverence is the most precious emotion that such a building inspires: reverence for the accumulated experiences of the past, readiness to puzzle out their meaning..."

Reflecting on the grand, unified west front of Amiens Cathedral and the historical weight it conveys to modern visitors.

"...we should have missed what is, in one way, the truest initiation of travel, the sense of continuity, of relation between different districts..."

Explaining how motor travel reveals the unnoticed, historic connections between famous regional destinations.

"The French physiognomy if not vividly beautiful is vividly intelligent; but the long practice of manners has so veiled its keenness with refinement as to produce a blending of vivacity and good temper nowhere else to be matched."

Observing the character and expressive grace of local residents seen while driving through provincial cathedral towns.

What It's Really About

Beneath the travel log lies an exploration of how the past remains embedded in the present. The book argues that true travel is not a frantic leap between famous sights, but a gradual absorption of the geographic and cultural continuity linking them. It contrasts the deep-seated European reverence for history—expressed in centuries of cathedral carving, urban layout, and land stewardship—with the hasty, past-ignoring impulses of the modern world. Architecture serves as a direct language of human effort, showing how communities express their collective will over generations. Ultimately, the narrative examines how landscape, art, and local character combine to form a unified national identity.

Why Read It Today

This work speaks directly to readers who love art history, slow travel, and precise, evocative prose. Reading it feels like taking a front-row seat on a leisurely driving tour through early twentieth-century Europe, guided by an observer of exceptional intelligence and visual acute sense. It offers a vivid portrait of a France just beginning to adapt to modern automotive travel while its regional rhythms, unpaved by-ways, and ancient architectural monuments remained largely undisturbed.

Readers should be prepared for detailed architectural descriptions and frequent references to French history, local geography, and classical art, which require a patient, attentive reading style. The language is sophisticated and unhurried, reflecting the period's formal literary sensibilities rather than modern fast-paced travel writing. Yet what remains long after reading is the book's deep appreciation for the quiet moments of travel—a sunlit town flashing across a cloudy plain, an old stone bridge over a quiet river, or a sudden, breathtaking view of a hilltop cathedral rising above the trees.